Funcionalismo, reduccionismo y sistemas cumulativos. ¿qué tipo de teoría social analítica necesitamos?

Abstract

Functional explanation has been regarded as a wrong kind of explanation in the social sciences, since it does not provide micro-foundations of social explanandum. This article suggests that the analytical explanation of certain social processes ("cumulative processes") requires both the formulation of self-regulation hypothesis and the provision of mechanisms based on a reductionist, non-intentional, conception of action. These are, however, the main features of a right functional explanation.